Freak
by WinkyGoMoo
Summary: "Was it some kind of a joke, that I'd find a reminder of my past NOW of all times?" Speculative one-shot for Rise of Miss Power. Contains brief mild violence and a major spoiler.


_Wow, it's been a LONG time since I've posted a story on here. So, um, this is basically a story based upon my speculation of the upcoming episode/special/movie "The Rise of Miss Power". That being said, while most of the content in this is stuff that I came up with, the story itself is based completely on a major spoiler. You have been warned._

_**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Word Girl or any of its characters or locations. If I did, I would be watching "The Rise of Miss Power" right now.**_

* * *

><p>Life can be so… ironic, sometimes.<p>

I was in the backroom of my spaceship, my "library" of sorts. With a lot of time on my hands, I walked beside the tall blue bookcases, running my hand along the book spines as I went. Every once in a while, I'd pick out a book, flip through the pages, and put it back again.

There was simply nothing that interested me. Most of the books were ones that I got years ago, probably when I wasn't thinking straight. Dozens upon dozens of vampire, overly-gruesome horror, and cheesy romance novels clogged up the shelves. I pulled out another book at random and examined the cover. I rolled my eyes and instantly put it back. A dictionary? Why would _I_ need a dictionary?

As I continued to gaze at the books, I was reminded that my past judgment hadn't failed me _completely_; there was definitely at least _one_ book that was worth re-reading. I stopped walking to search the bookcase more thoroughly.

It was that moment that the ship tilted almost entirely on its side.

A cacophony arose as everything slid and clattered to the ground. Although taken a bit off guard, I reacted quickly, only losing a little bit of ground before I took to the air and caught two bookcases that were falling towards me. I let out a frustrated groan as I watched all the furniture and books gather in a pile on the left side of the room.

Not a moment too soon, the ship righted itself. Gigglecheek's voice came from the cockpit a second later, apologizing and saying that he got into a tough squeeze in the asteroid belt.

I held back a sharp retort. My sidekick might've caused this mess, but at least he knew what he was doing.

Not bothering to land, I placed the two bookcases back in their place against the wall and turned to the jumble of furniture and books slumped up against the left side of the room. Flying over there, I finally descended to the ground and picked up two chairs from the wreckage. Doing so caused something to slide off the pile and hit my foot gently. Placing the chairs aside, I bent down and picked it up.

It was a small, light blue notebook. The cover was tattered and torn, a sign that time and weather had taken its toll. There was writing on the front of it, and even though most of it was faded beyond recognition, I could make out one word: Jane.

This was a journal. _My_ journal.

Was this some kind of joke, that I'd find a reminder of my past _now_, of all times? My mind wandered. How long had it been sitting here? I couldn't seem to remember putting it in the bookshelf… As I thought, I flipped through the pages.

It was almost like stepping into a different world. Page after page was filled with the writings and drawings of my younger self. The hopes and dreams of an almost carefree girl with a childish innocence.

An innocence that had since been lost.

To force the thought out of my mind, I stopped on one page and began to read more slowly.

_Dear Diary,_

_Today is a big day. I'm finally going to school!_

_It's so weird; I feel really excited, but I also feel dread. I guess it makes sense. I mean, I've wanted to go to a real school for a while now. But I've never really been around any kids my age before. Mom and Dad have hardly let me out of the house, let alone meet new people. Will I be accepted by my classmates? My parents do have a good reason to keep me inside, after all…_

_I have an idea! I'll find something to cover the right side of my face with! Maybe if everybody accepts me with it covered, then I can show my whole face to them!_

_I'll need to hurry, though. I gotta leave soon._

My heart twisted inside of my chest. I remembered that day. Against my own will, my eyes trailed to the next entry.

_Dear Diary,_

_ I don't understand. I just don't understand._

_ Before I left to go to school, I wrapped the entire right side of my face with the only thing I could find: masking tape. When I went downstairs to see my parents, they looked a bit concerned. They didn't ask me to take it off, though. Maybe they understood what I was trying to do._

_ Not like it would've mattered anyway._

_ The first part of the day went smoothly, sure. The teacher, Ms. Star, introduced me to the class and assigned me a seat. Pretty much everybody looked at me weird, but nobody said anything. For the next few hours, everything seemed normal._

_ But when we went out for recess, everything took a turn for the worse._

_ This boy, I think his name was Luxor, kept following me and wouldn't leave me alone about my face. He called me names like "Mummy" and "Bandages". I tried to ignore him. He didn't like that very much._

_ Luxor ended up grabbing me by the collar of my shirt and demanded me to tell what I was trying to hide. When I didn't respond, he tore off the tape himself._

_ I don't get it. Why did everyone laugh at me? I'm not that different from everyone else! I just don't understand…_

_ Maybe that's what they do to all new students. Maybe it's something that only happens on the first day. Oh, please let that be it! I don't want to get laughed at anymore!_

I had to lean against the wall as the memories came flooding back to me. Luxor. Ever since that day, he never left me alone. Both he and his gang of friends had been determined to make my life miserable. All the other students had joined in as well, too afraid to oppose him.

Overwhelmed by the barrage, I couldn't help but turn the page. The paper was filled with a series of short entries with no headers.

_Same thing happened today. Why does everybody like being so mean to me?_

_ The only reason anybody talks to me now is to mock me. Both yesterday and today, I've tried wrapping up my face again, but it only makes everything worse. Can't they just leave me alone?_

_ Nothing's changing. I tried to tell Ms. Star about how Luxor and his group were making fun of me, but she didn't believe me! Said that they're SUCH well behaved students that she couldn't POSSIBLY imagine them doing something like that._

_ Luxor, you sneaky little… I- _(Words were crossed out several times here so that they were undistinguishable.) _I hate you! There, I said it! I don't care if it's a strong word; I really mean it! I hate you!_

_ Luxor grabbed me outside in recess again when Ms. Star left to take care of something. He said that if I ever snitched again, he'd make sure the rest of my face matched the part I cover up._

_ I went home with a black eye. Told my parents that I got hit by a stray baseball in Sports class. I'm still surprised that they believed me so easily. Am I that good at lying?_

_ I can't take it anymore. I can't even sleep without having nightmares of the teasing, the mocking. Day and night, I can't escape it. The names follow me everywhere. Lab Experiment… Reptile… Greenface… and Luxor's personal favorite: Freak._

_ Every time I think of it, a flaming rage boils inside of me. I've been trying to hold it in, but I just don't see the point anymore._

_ I HATE you Luxor, for everything you've said and done to me since I came to school!_

_ I HATE all of your friends for joining in on your taunting!_

_ I HATE the rest of the students in my class for not sticking up for me or saying something to Ms. Star!_

_ I HATE Ms. Star for not believing me when I DID say something!_

_ I hate how I can't tell my parents without them removing me from school. I hate how that would give Luxor the satisfaction of knowing that he caused me to leave._

_ If no one is going to stop all of this, then I'll MAKE it stop. _

I closed my eyes and tried to clear my head. What was I doing, sticking my head into the past again? It was better just to move on and forget about it. But yet I couldn't drop the journal. My grip on it was so tight, that I feared that I if I tried to pull it out the whole thing would rip in half.

I opened my eyes and walked toward the door to the cockpit. Though cleaning up the room would distract me, it wouldn't be enough. The only thing that could combat these encroaching memories was the future.

Gigglecheeks looked over his shoulder as I entered the cockpit. He made a motion with his head that asked "What's that book you're carrying?"

I gave him a look that said, "None of your business." He simply shrugged and went back to piloting the ship.

I sat in my chair in the middle of the room and took a look out the windshield. We were still in the asteroid belt, but the space rocks were more spread out now. No need to worry about the ship tilting anymore.

We were getting close; I could feel it. Our destination was almost within our sight.

My mind began to fight back at me again, bringing up the taboo journal. _Sometimes you can learn from the past,_ the thought came up, unpermitted. _Not all memories are painful. Besides, this may be the last time you read this journal, considering how you almost lost it before. You could be missing a valuable piece of information that only your journal has._

Though I tried to oppose those thoughts at first, the more I really began to think about it, the more it made sense. There _could_ be some important information within the pages. Was I really going to let a few hard memories keep me from finding it? I opened up the journal and began to read again, with only a little hesitancy.

_ Luxor was gone today. All the better for me._

_ I didn't bother wrapping my face up today. I don't know if my parents noticed, but they probably did. Hopefully they took it as a good sign. I don't want them messing around in this. This is my problem and I'm going to solve it._

_ One girl tried to talk to me during a break between classes, to "apologize", she said. I told her that her apology wasn't worth the breath she wasted on it and that she could stick her sorry little head in the ground and never talk to me again._

_ It was so weird, telling her off like that. I've never said something so harsh out loud before. But yet, I felt so… empowered. Strengthened. I felt so good that when Luxor's friends came to tease me again, I told them to, "shut those pathetic things you call mouths and go play with the other rockheads."_

_ I need to be careful, though. The last thing I need is for Ms. Star to catch me._

_Nothing yet,_ I thought. I kept reading.

_Luxor was absent again today. Not that it matters. I've turned everything around._

_ It's a bit unbelievable how easy it all was. Nobody messes with me anymore. If they try to, I don't even have to say anything. I just glare at them with my right eye and they back off. _

_ Just you wait, Luxor. When you come back, you'll have me to deal with. Then I'll finally repay you for all the pain you caused me._

I almost stopped reading because I began to doubt that there was anything that I didn't already know in there. But the next entry caught my eye. It was filled with dark pencil marks and big capital letters, and I could make out small dots on that page that looked like… tear stains?

_I can't believe this! This is so UNFAIR!_

_ Ms. Star is so STUPID! I can't believe that she fell for Luxor's act! AND NOBODY BOTHERED TO SAY ANYTHING IN MY DEFENSE!_

_ You know what? Forget this journal! I'm gonna go bash my head against the wall!_

I felt the journal fall from my hands. I made no movement to catch it. As I had read those words, my defenses had crumbled.

I could see Luxor, standing in front of me, his crushing grip on my arm. The taunting words he had spoken reawakened in my mind's ear.

"_You think you're so tough? You really thought you could beat me at my own game? _I'm_ the king here, little girl, and it'll always stay that way! …I see that lump in your pocket; don't think that you can hide it. That's snack money, isn't it? I think I'll just take that as the first part of your punishment!"_

As he said those words, he reached inside my pocket. I pushed him away, wrenching my arm out of his grip in the process, but he already held the money in his hand.

"_You should be thanking me, you know. Even _if_ you gave this to the snack people, they wouldn't give you anything. Nobody would give anything special to a freak like you. Did you really think you'd be treated like a normal person? You'll _never_ be normal. You'll always be a freak. A freak that no one can love, no one can possibly care for. Not even your own parents."_

The next thing I knew, Luxor had been sprawled out on the ground several feet away from me. He swore, holding his nose and grunting in pain. I looked on, dumbstruck, as my mind barely processed what had happened: I had punched him.

The rest went by in a blur.

Ms. Star heard the commotion and had come outside. Luxor, with blood dripping through his fingers and fake tears in his eyes, had run to her, crying that I was trying to take his snack money. He was quickly backed up by the rest of his friends.

None of the other students said anything.

Over the course of the next hour, all the kids in my class went to Ms. Star, their tongues suddenly loosened about my past behavior. My parents were called, and I was sent home early. Faced with the testimonies of the students and my anger, they decided it would be best to put me in my room.

When we reached our house, my parents got a call from Ms. Star. She had just heard the news from Luxor's parents: I had broken his nose.

I steamed in my room for the longest time, punching the wall and screaming into my pillow. When that didn't do anything, I just sat on my bed and cried. It wasn't fair! It was Luxor who tried to take my money, not the other way around! And I didn't mean to hit him that hard, although, I thought later, he deserved it.

It was then that my mind began to clear, and a solution presented itself.

The words I had written later came back to me, and I didn't have to look at the journal to know what it said.

_ Luxor was right about one thing: I'll never be normal. No matter what I do, I'll always have a side of my face that I can never show in public. No matter what I say, this torment will never stop._

_ No matter what, I'll always be a freak._

_ This is why I've decided it'd just be best to remove myself from the picture._

_ If the idea had come up before now, I would've pushed it aside because of Luxor. But if I stay, I'll only give him more satisfaction than if I just left. Besides, I did give him what was coming to him._

_ Luxor, I hope that your nose never heals properly. Then I won't be the only one who's a freak._

_ I hope my departure brings about change in that class. Nothing will change any other way. _

_ I hope my parents… oh, my parents… I hope they can understand why I did this. By the time I'm writing this, they've probably found out that I'm long gone. I hope they don't look for me. I hope they just forget all about me. It's better for all of us that way._

_ Sometimes the thought comes into my mind that I should go back. But I can't go back. I've made my decision. It's too late to go back on it now._

_ But yet the farther I go from home, the more my heart aches._

_ Mom… Dad… I'm sorry. Despite my flaws, even though I'm a freak… you were the only ones who truly loved me._

I snapped back to reality.

I reached down to pick up the journal. Holding it in my hands again, a fierce anger began to rise inside of me. Love? Who cared about love? I wasn't Jane. Jane was weak.

Jane was _dead_.

I opened the journal and gripped one side with each hand. I twisted it, pulling the book apart. It easily tore within my grasp.

I then took the two sides of it and ripped it in half again. And again. And again. With a savage determination, I shredded the journal.

Pieces of paper littered the floor in front of me, broken fragments of my memories. I didn't want those memories. I didn't _need_ those memories.

I looked down at my chair's armrest, seeing my dim reflection. Though my bang still covered most of the right side of my face, the green skin was just visible, and my yellow eye stared back.

The only thing I needed was what I had during those few days when I was in charge. No one had spoken against me then. No one had _dared_ to.

I wanted that fear. I wanted that _power_.

Gigglecheeks said something, and I looked up. There, in the midst of the black vortex of space, was a small blue dot. Our destination.

Earth.

I fixed my hair and stood up from my seat. Soon, I would have that power.

Oh sure, it would take some time. My plan wouldn't work overnight, especially if I was to win over a new ally there. But it would happen. One day, one day _soon_, I would finally triumph.

The day that would forever be remembered as the Rise of Miss Power.


End file.
